A covertly recorded video causes renewed allegations against the US president. It shows a secret conversation with a celebrity lawyer.
In addition to his election campaign, Donald Trump also had to deal with three lawsuits in 2016 . He and Trump University - which was actually not recognized as a university - were accused of cheating students. They'd paid between $ 1,495 and $ 34,995 for real estate seminars. Apparently, however, many of the lecturers had no real estate experience. Trump managed to postpone the process until after election day. Shortly after the election, Trump agreed to pay $ 25 million in order not to have to admit his guilt.
As part of the process , Trump made an affidavit on December 10, 2015. The hour-long hearing sent by video recorded. In contrast to a transcript, this was not published. The camera was also switched on during an interruption - which Trump * apparently had not noticed. She recorded a discussion between him and his lawyer Daniel Petrocelli . The recordings were recently leaked to Mother Jones .
Donald Trump - confidential conversation with lawyer
In the 13-minute video, the US President * boasted that he had threatened the Better Business Office in order to get a better rating. The NGO had given Trump University a D rating, Trump wanted to get it to give it an A rating.
He also complained about the responsible judge Gonzalo P. Curiel . He suggested his lawyer Petrocelli intimidate the judge and use his supposed Latin American origins against him.
"What about the Spanish thing, " said Trump * in the clip. What Trump meant by that is not clear. But months later, the President publicly attacked Curiel, calling him "a hater of Donald Trump " who "happens to be what we believe to be Mexican". Because of the wall on the border between the United States and Mexico, the judge is biased. However, Curiel was born in Indiana and is therefore a US citizen.
Donald Trump's attorney asked Mother Jones to delete the video
Art Cohen , the lead plaintiff in one of the class actions against Trump University , delivered the tape to Mother Jones . “I wanted to bring this out before the election so people could understand better, like Trumpbehaves behind the scenes, ”Cohen told Mother Jones . “Staying calm all the time was frustrating for me, and I wish everyone had a chance to see Trump's * behavior the way I did before the 2016 election . With the 20/20 vision we now have the opportunity to better understand his true nature and the gangster personality he shows in this video . "
Mother Jones contacted attorney Petrocelli and asked him a series of questions about the clip. This, however, sent a letter on behalf of President * Donald Trump and Trump University and demanded that Mother Jones "not publish the video or article in this context and delete the video immediately." * Merkur.de and tz.de are part of the nationwide Ippen digital editorial network.
List of rubric lists: © Susan Walsh / DPA / Picture Alliance